Busto Arsizio, Italy, December 17, 2013. Though already eliminated from the competition after five consecutive setbacks, last year’s bronze medalists Unendo Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO finished the prelims of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women with a splendid home victory as they routed in straight sets Azeryol BAKU to delight 2,400 fans in attendance at the Palayamamay (25-14, 25-17, and 25-19). This means that Azeryol will move on to the Challenge Round of the CEV Volleyball Cup while their compatriots of Igtisadchi will be the ones to replace the organizer of the Final Four in the draw of the Playoffs 12.
The match was dominated from the start up to the end by Francesca Marcon and the other players of Unendo Yamamay. Carlo Parisi, though the game had no significance for the final standing in Pool E, decided to use his best players including Anne Buijs (pictured), at her last game with Unendo Yamamay before joining the Dutch national team for the third and last stage of the World Champs qualification coming up in early January. The home team performed well in all fundamentals, as the “Butterflies” registered four aces, 11 blocks (six contributed by their setter Joanna Wolosz) while libero Giulia Leonardi and captain Francesca Marcon stood out in defense. Buijs and Serena Ortolani top scored in the end with 13 and 12 points respectively. Azeryol head coach Angelo Vercesi tried many substitutions during the game opting for Polina Rahimova, Jessica Jones and Oksana Parkhomenko but he could not change the course of the match.

Unendo Yamamay opened the first set with a terrific 7-1 run showing excellent defense, especially with Leonardi and Marcon. Ortolani and Ilaria Garzaro widened the lead to 10:4 and two blocks by Valentina Arrighetti forced Vercesi into a time-out by the score of 12:5. Azeryol replaced their Cuban setter Yusidey Silie with Parkhomenko while Rahimova substituted Margareta Anna Kozuch but Buijs sealed the first set with a block and the score of 25-14.
Vercesi returned to his initial starting six for the second set and this way Azeryol could claim the lead for the first time since the start of the game (6:7); however, Unendo Yamamay got back full control of the operations at 12:10 and with an ace by Arrighetti widened their lead to 15:12. Buijs was very effective with her attacks and good serving by Wolosz moved the score up to 18:13. It was Marcon who anchored the home side in the final section of the set thereby paving the way for the final 25-17.
The “Butterflies” imposed their rule also right from the start of the third set with Ortolani and Garzaro (5:1) and could resist to an attempted comeback by their opponents (10:7). Playing just superbly in defense, Leonardi helped her side control the game and by exploiting the many errors made by their opponents, Unendo Yamamay could finish it off in straight sets (25-19) to end their European campaign on a high note.